Ren Narita vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

[6.0] "[3.0*] Huge fucking pop for these ratings, lmfao. Three 9.0s and three 3.0 or less grades. I love when wrestling does that. And to be honest, I have to agree with both sides of the coin here. I have to agree with the people that gave high ratings because the one-on-one action was just incredible. Stiff, technical, with great submissions and just very well wrestled, that is indeed true. However, I have to agree with the people that gave a low rating, because the ending fucking sucked, and on this case HoT legitimately ruined the match, because the run-in was poorly executed and the vibes were instantly killed. I will give it a decent/good rating because there were 18 minutes of great wrestling + 5 minutes of terrible wrestling, so this was more good than bad for me. This could have been an all-timer, tho."

[6.0] "Usually in this polarizing and controversial matches I always give the rating that perfectly describes a middle terms here, and it happened again, this match had very high points but also some really low ones. Match was stiff and had a good structure, Zack was clearly trying to teach the "Son of Strong Style" a lesson, excellent dynamic, but we also had some bad stuff, like a chair shot in front of the referee, an unnecessary kickout at 0 by ZSJ after getting beat for a long time outside of the ring. Mixed feelings about the interferences, some were bad and some were good. This match was either very good or very bad, there was no such thing as a mediocre moment - {**3/4}"

[7.0] "One of the better matches of the tournament. Narita and ZSJ have good chemistry together, and Narita worked well in the heel role without it completely neutering his style."

[8.0] "Ruined by the House of Torture bullshit, but Ren Narita and Zack Sabre Jr. turned it out once again. I was fully into Narita by match's end, right before the interference, and I think he's a great foil for the top stars of the company whose skills should be utilized more prominently. At some point, it's no longer going to make sense for someone as singularly talented as ZSJ to not be world champion. I'm predicting a deep G1 run for The Front Man, and hoping for a victory in the Tokyo Dome next year. ****"

[7.0] "Overall, I thought this match was pretty good. It utilized House of Torture well and made Ren Narita look like a killer rule breaking heel instead of just another goof in the goon squad. Some brutal spots throughout the match and a great opening brawl into the crowd that added a real sense of danger. It got a little slow in the middle, but recovered nicely by the end. I thought the ending itself was done really well with the rest of HoT providing a distraction for Kanemaru to sneak in and blind ZSJ by spitting whisky in his face, but it was still a cheap ending and those are always a bit of a bummer on a good match. On a final note, Narita looked extra cool and psychotic with his bloodied nose this match."

[8.0] "This is exactly what House of Torture should be. Brutal, but credible. Their resorting to cheating shouldn't happen from the get go, as it almost always occurs, but only when they need to make sure of the result. I really liked this match, as it shown just how much Narita has progressed since the last time he faced ZSJ and how he can be a great heel without losing credibility as a wrestler."

[9.0] "Probably Ren Narita's best match since the TV tournament semi-finals against SANADA? He finally showed a sense of urgency, that he's a musketeer alongside Yota and Shota. Love his fusion of classical techniques with foul play and outside brawling. That running neckbreaker on the guard rail was wicked. Zack's relentless technical attacks pushed Narita to rediscover the skills he'd abandoned since joining HoT. Zack Sabre Jr, an exceptional craftsman, was the ideal candidate to revive the strong style of Ren Narita. And with ZSJ as the tournament favorite, this was a massive moment for Narita!"

[7.0] "Thought this was pretty good until the House of Torture interference. Thankfully, they waited until the very end of the match to interfere which means we got 20+ minutes of great action. If more HoT matches were like this, they'd be less of a dreg on the product."

[5.0] "[3.0*] The action in the ring wasn't bad, technically there were a lot of positive things and Zack Sabre Jr did a great job here with his transitions and counters that turned into submissions, unfortunately it's another match that was completely messed up by the House of Torture which now has 3 members in the ring. quarter-finals of the New Japan Cup, the presence of the House of Torture is terrible for the general quality of the NJPW product, every match that has a participant suffers from overbooking and endless interference. I understand the need to make Narita classify but Zack's early elimination is still sad."

[8.0] "20 or so minutes of exciting action finished with a typical HOT ending, which I actually thought was well designed here. Often I get a bit frustrated by the fact that other faction members wont be there to support if HOT attacks their ally, but throughout this tour its been made clear that its just Nicholls and ZSJ from TMDK, and although Nicholls tried they just couldnt beat the numbers game. The former part of the match was some exceptional mat work, stiff strikes (including a brutal strike from ZSJ which seemed to bust Naritas nose) and tight roll-ups. Narita is showing who his character can become currently and Id love to see more of this workrate centric HOT style going forward, they should cheat to win when the stakes are highest, not just for the sake of it. ZSJ doesnt need the cup, he needs the G1 win which will hopefully come later this year, so a deep run for Narita and a Reiwa Musketeer battle in the quarters should be promising. I get why people dislike the HOT antics, but they do their jobs well as heels, getting heat and making the crowd root for the faces so much more. This is definitely worth a watch, up there with Tsuji/Cobb as match of the cup so far!"

[3.0] "Never forget what Gedo took from you. The first twenty minutes of this were hard-hitting, pure, and utterly pointless. The wilful suspension of disbelief upon which the enjoyment of pro wrestling hinges is made impossible in a House of Torture match. No matter the transitions, deep submissions, or heavy blows of the first 80% of this, it was impossible to care about them until the inevitable run-ins. This match could have been a classic, but I spent it looking at my watch. Gedo has the HoT vet in Evil winning cleanly over the youngsters (Umino, Hikuleo) and the HoT rookie winning dirty over vets. No one gains anything from this."

[6.0] "Really liked the story here of Narita going back to his roots in order to prove something to ZSJ, a bad memory from a past which Narita would rather forget. Narita put up a great fight and held off calling out HoT, only making it more disappointing when he did."

[6.0] "One of Narita's better performances, of course largely spoiled by HoT's unforgivably bad heel garbage. ZSJ and Narita really showed good chemistry here, with ZSJ selling Narita's work really well and Narita getting caught by some of ZSJ's technical stuff. An intriguing match cut short by the usual heatless interference. ***"

[6.0] "The ending was terribly executed but the wrestling before HoT came was actually good. It wasn't at the level of ELP vs Tsuji obviously and it tended to be slow sometimes but it was entertaining. Unfortunately, everything involving EVIL and his companions just ruined it. ***"

[9.0] "This match showcased just how good Ren Narita can be when put with another great athlete, while the finish was deifnately a shame I don't thin it 'ruined' the match, I was still completely entertained throughout and would've loved to see more. ZSJ's striking in this match was notably great as he even broke Ren Narita's nose at one point. Ren Narita's charecter is another good part of this match as you could see his past self starting to slip through ecspecially in the armbar exchange near the end, it gives me hope that Narita can become a top player in New Japan in a few years. I think people calling this match a flop cause of the finish is ridiculous because what preceded it was 20 minutes of good-great action"

[6.0] "20 minutes of an actual good match between ZSJ and Narita, followed by a sloppy HOT run-in, Narita's shit-looking finisher, a pin, and the most baffling booking decision in New Japan this year. I'm not going to give this a 0 or anything like that, because 90% this match was exactly what you wanted to see from these two, but man that ending has killed what little excitement I had for the rest of this cup, and almost completely killed this match. Why make me watch all 20 minutes if you're going to sour it? 3.25 Stars."

[9.0] "One of the best matches of the tournament and again another match that will make nerds cry and seethe because god forbid a heel in a faction of cheating heels uses some interferences to win his match. Zack Sabre Jr. won the New Japan Cup twice so he was a big favorite but he knew that Ren Narita is now a very different man than the wrestler he beat at Wrestle Kingdom 17. Which is why he brought Mikey Nicholls with him but he was the only TMDK member available on this tour so sadly for him it was going to be difficult to stop the potential House Of Torture shenanigans. The match started with some grappling, reminding us that Ren is above all a technical wrestler but the match quickly changes when he tries to make it more of a brutal brawl and takes Zack outside of the ring. Overall that match was a great mix between the technical abilities of Narita and his brawler side that he tries to push since he joined House Of Torture. Zack is obviously a perfect opponent for that type of match and he helped to showcase Narita really well. Ren's matches have less shenanigans than the other House Of Torture matches, it was a pure singles match for more than 20 minutes until House Of Torture came to help Narita when it seemed like he was going to lose the technical battle. He steals the win in what is the biggest upset of the tournament. The crowd could have been better. Other than that a fantastic match that puts over Ren Narita as a threat in this tournament."

[7.0] "7.5. I genuinely thought this was one of the best matches of the tournament so far. The brawling was good, the in-ring stuff was great (Zack goading Ren while he had him in the octopus was a great touch as well), and the HoT interference was brief, and helped to underline that while Ren can hang with Zack more than he could during the TV Title tournament, he still doesn't have the edge - so there's growth, but further to go. And TMDK actually react to a HoT run-in the way every faction should, although they are unfortunately down on numbers to fully prevent it."

[5.0] "ZSJ and Narita seems out of sync at first, but it got better once ZSJ opened up his ground game. The match started to show promise for a little while, despite Narita's overly-dramatic reactions. But naturally the match is ruined after HoT makes a predictable run-in and the shenanigans outweigh everything else that happened up to that point. It makes the viewer wonder why they don't just ruin the match 2 minutes in to save Narita the unnecessary effort. I hope HoT eventually finds a more creative way to generate heat, but I become less optimistic every day. It's a broken record that overshadows respectable efforts by ZSJ and Narita and the show ends with a fart."

[4.0] "I am giving it a 4 because the ring work was good in a vacuum. Probably could have been a 6 or a 7 if not for the House of Torture nonsense that is getting incredibly old. As usual, red shoes has to act more inept than any referee in history, then he has to clearly observe interference but ignore it. If you are HOT, what logical reason do you wait for any amount of time before you do this in matches? Gedo thinks he is going to build up some big story where everyone wants to see the HOT get what they deserve but instead he is booking to make people not watch the matches at all."

[6.0] "This match was fun. It's nice to see that the old Narita isn't completely dead. It's...interesting, I guess? to have (following the outside brawl at the start) a fairly straight up wrestling match but with the House of Torture just hanging over it. You *know* they're going to interfere, but the match just keeps going and going without them, until they finally appear. I like the total ease with which they won once they came out too, because they've mastered this shit by now and are used to whole stables emptying out to fight them. Nicholls is gonna take them by himself? lmao."

[0.0] "This was a very well worked, entertaining match, that was well on it's way to recapturing the magic that was Narita back in his initial reintroduction to the company during the TV title tournament. Zach has been incredible in the last year and this was no exception. ZSJ's striking might actually be his most underrated ability. His elbow strikes have the most crisp SLAP of any in Japan. Oh...and then HoT happened. Boring, repetitive, dull, uninspired, lazy, awful, brain-dead, infantile, insulting, pointless, HoT happened. If you are going to have a sub-Yano match finish, why make me watch 20 minutes of wresting? How bout this, I just don't watch matches featuring HoT guys ever again? FUCK. THIS. SHIT."